August

Wow, this time two weeks from now, I am gonna be getting ready for bed, as school will be starting! Julie has to report to official in-service on the 14th, and I have to report on the 21st. Olivia will start going back to Stephanie and we will be back into the routine. Where did summer go? Wow! We are enjoying the last couple of weeks the best we can, enjoying being together as a family.

We took our band trip to Minneapolis. It was fun! We had a few "bumps in the road", but got on our way. We took Rachel with us to meet her family who was staying in Minneapolis with her brother Kevin. We stopped to eat at Denny's, and I must say that the immature side of me took over. When we walked in the door, the waiter's name was Denny. His apron said Denny's, and his name tag said Denny twice! For some odd reason, I couldn't get over this. I probably did not look like the adult of that group! Then we met Jim, Nancy, and Kevin to part ways with Rachel. It was fun having her stay with us. After they left, we boarded the Minneapolis Queen and got an hour and a half tour of the Mississippi River. We checked into our hotel, and relaxed for a while, before eating at Fuddrucker's. I had never eaten there before, so it was a new experience. After a few wrong turns, we made it a little late to the Minnesota Orchestra. I know the kids probably didn't enjoy it as much, but I thought it was okay. After running through the pouring rain to our parking garage, and a few more wrong turns, we made it back to the hotel and turned in for the night. The next morning, we went to Valleyfair, and the kids had a blast! We spent most of the day there, and ate at the barbecue they had. We went back and relaxed for the rest of the evening. The last day in MN, we went to the Mall of America. That place was HUGE! It was easy to get turned around in that mall. After eating, we made our way back to Moulton. We were surprised to see Julie's mom and Olivia waiting for us in the parking lot at the school. We were both excited to see her. I know that Julie really missed her, as we haven't been away from her for more than a night. It was a good trip, and the kids were great.

Other than that, not much new on the Vanderlinden Ranch. Trying to enjoy our last few days of break any way we can!

July's Almost Over!

It's been a while since we've posted last! It is the last week of July :-(

That means that school will be starting in a few weeks. Julie has made A LOT or progress in her classroom. I helped her move a lot of "useless" stuff out of her room that was taking up space. She is happy with the transformation. She just has a lot of organizing to do. She has to go down on August 5th and 6th for "new" teacher orientation. I got back into my room today. It is freshly painted, and looks very bright. I just need to spend a little time now getting things put back where I want them, and I have a whole bunch of work to do in my office. We went to the zoo in Des Moines a couple of weeks ago. Olivia really enjoyed the animals, especially the sea lions. It was fun seeing her reaction to all of the different animals.

Julie's cousin Rachel is visiting from Melvin. Her mom, Nancy, drove her down, and we met in Albia to pick her up on Thursday. She will be here until Friday. She is riding up with my band kids to Minneapolis, where Jim and Nancy will be there to meet us.

She hasn't been around Olivia that much, but I think she is really enjoying getting to know her. We have really been enjoying being at home and spending time together this summer. It will be hard for all of us to get back into the routine of school, especially Olivia. The County Fair just got over tonight, so that is yet another thing that we don't have on our plate anymore. It has been a very busy summer! We plan on enjoying what time we have left of it right up until that first school bell! Hope everybody is doing well!


Olivia seemed very fascinated with this one...


I know, I know...I'm trying to start her too early!

July already?

Wow, it is July 7th already! Next month, we have to go back to work!! WTF? I hope everybody had a good 4th of July holiday. We entered Olivia in the Mystic Cutie Contest. She got 1st place in the 13-23 month division, beating the girl that beat her last year! Here is one of the pictures.

Other than that, we went to Amy & Kendal's for supper and fireworks. We saw some nice fireworks from Exline as well.

Olivia has been using her potty a whole bunch the last few days! We have been rewarding her with candy. Hopefully she will start to fully understand that if she goes on the potty, she will get a reward. It will be nice to get her out of diapers someday. We also recently discovered that Olivia really likes sweet corn. She hasn't been able to get enough the past few days.


Julie got down to her classroom, and has been working the last few days in there. She has got a lot done, but still has a long way to go! We have our last municipal band performance this Thursday. After that, I won't have to play that much until school starts. Julie's cousin Rachel is coming in a couple of weeks, so that will be nice to have her stay. Will post more later!

Summer Keeps Rollin' On...

Wow! What a break from the heat we had today! We turned off our air and opened the windows. It was nice to walk outside and not get knocked over by the heat and humidity. Sounds like the upcoming week will be the same, with NO rain! Not much new since I last blogged. We went to Taylor Swift and Keith Urban on Saturday night. It was a good concert, despite being in the second to last row left of the stage. Both performers put on a good show, and I know that Julie really enjoyed seeing Keith ;-) Olivia stayed with Grandma Joyce and Kyla. Olivia says "Kyla" very clearly, and it's all we hear sometimes! Olivia really enjoys "hanging out" with her cousin. We say that she thinks she is big stuff when she is with Kyla. We went to the Moore family reunion at Ledges State Park, just south of Boone before we went to the concert. Just a few of the Centerville Moores went, as it is a long drive. Julie's dad rode up with us, and rode back with one of his brothers. We agreed to host the reunion in Centerville next year, so we will be busy with that come next June.

I must say, I have been enjoying staying up late and playing Wii, as well as watching TV. It will be hard to get back into the routine of waking up for school! Speaking of school, I have so much to do before school starts, but I can't really get in and do anything until my room is painted and I get everything back to normal. Might take a good couple of days of work to do that. I enjoy it though. Municipal Band is about over. We have two more concerts left. This Thursday is the patriotic concert. I am playing with the Centerville High School Jazz Band in front of Owl Pharmacy on Friday. The CHS director asked me to play with them a few weeks ago, and it was fun, but a tiring couple of hours for a guy who doesn't play as much as he used to! I'm sure that it is hard to get some people to play during the summer, as I have found! Other than that, we are enjoying EACH day together.

June 23, 2009

Well, I have become a regular blogger! Julie started this, but it seems like I have become addicted to it! My, is the summer flying by! It's already the 23rd of June! School will be starting for the both of us before we know it! I don't even want to think of that right now! We had Relay for Life last Saturday. It was very hot and muggy, which made for a long evening. We got through it though. The events usually run until 6 a.m., but they had to call it quits at 3:30, as there was an impending storm coming. It has been a busy month so far, as we had a lot of activities for our Relay for Life Team. This Saturday, Julie and I are going to see Taylor Swift and Keith Urban at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. This was her birthday present back in April, so we are going to get to see them finally. I have been playing in the Centerville Municipal Band when I can. Seems like we have been out of town or I have been busy. Julie is ready to get into the classroom and get organized for the coming year, but they are using her room for summer school until the first of July. My room is torn apart and "taped" so that they can start painting it, but they are waiting for the roof to be replaced in the 2nd or 3rd week of June. I am ready for that, so I can get in there and get things put away and arranged! It has been very hot here, as heat indexes were 100 degrees today, with a heat advisory. I really feel bad for the people who do not have air conditioners, or fans! With the hot weather, we have been using the slip and slide that Grandpa Donnie and Grandma Linda got for Olivia, as well as her kiddie pool. Here are some pictures of the fun that she's been having!







Olivia on the slip-and-slide with Karson.









Olivia and Karson in the kiddie pool.


She absolutely loves being in the water. We went to the City Pool the other day, and she had a blast, despite it being so hot. More hot weather to come, it looks like! Stay tuned!

June 16, 2009

Not much going on since our last update, EXCEPT for Dawn and Matt's wedding! It was a beautiful day, and we are glad to have Matt join our family. Julie was a bridesmaid, and I played trumpet and sang for the wedding. We stayed at Dawn and Matt's for about 4 days. It was a little hectic at times, and I believe that everybody's patience was tried at one time or another, but we got through it. The summer is flying by already! I can't believe that it's the middle of June already! Relay for Life is this weekend. This weekend has a whole new meaning for me, personally, as I lost my mom last October to cancer. I also lost a good friend last month to cancer, so this weekend will be an opportunity to reflect on the past year, and to look forward to helping find a cure once and for all. Julie will be busy, as she is on the committee, and is our team captain. I have a jazz combo performing, so I will be responsible for that. On the topic of loved ones, we got news today that Julie's uncle Dave passed away. He has had Parkinson's disease for years, and his health had really deteriorated recently. He is in a better place now, and we will be thinking of Judy and the family as they deal with this tough time. Well, I better end this blog for now, as I didn't plan on writing a novel! Until next time!

My turn to blog!

It's been a long time since Julie has updated the blog, so I thought that I would try my hand at it! We are fully immersed in summer break (hallelujah!). It is nice to have a little time off. I always had to do summer lessons in Seymour, and I don't at Moulton-Udell, so it is nice to have that extra month of freedom! We haven't been doing much other than relaxing at home! Julie is getting anxious to start her teaching job at Putnam County. We took her stuff down to her classroom the other day. She has A LOT of things to go through that belonged to the teacher(s) before her. It will be nice when she finally gets settled in. Miss Olivia is a sponge. She is absorbing a lot of new things. She is putting tiny little sentences together, and most importantly, she is sleeping through the night!!! She wakes up early, but we would rather have her sleep 9 straight hours than wake up numerous times and sleep late! She is a bunch of fun, and we can't wait for her to keep learning new things! As for me, I am having jazz camp in July, marching band camp in August, and taking my 10-12 graders on a band trip to Minneapolis. They are a great group of kids, so it shouldn't be too bad. After that, it will almost be ready for school to begin! Whew!!! More to come later!